Older couple Fran and Barry Lazarus exit 'The Amazing Race 9'

By Andrea Sellers, 04/27/2006

For once, Lazarus did not return from the dead, as married couple Fran and Barry Lazarus went from their first place finish in Oman to an Australian elimination in the latest episode of The Amazing Race 9.

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The Amazing Race 9's ninth episode began with the five remaining teams departing Jabreen Castle, a 300-year-old fortress in Oman that had served as the previous episode's Pit Stop. As they left the Pit Stop, the teams received a clue instructing telling them to travel 9,000 miles to Perth, Australia.

Since hippies BJ Averell and Tyler Macniven had been stripped of everything for finishing last in the previous leg, they asked the other teams to leave money in their car, threatening to Yield teams that did not assist them. Fran and Barry assisted them, as did long-distance daters Ray Whitty and Yolanda Brown-Moore, but the two other teams laughed about aiding their competition. On their way to the airport, the teams got stuck in a traffic jam caused by the king's motorcade.

Although they had departed the Pit Stop nearly two hours after all the other teams, BJ and Tyler still decided that they had time to pick up a Bedouin hitchhiker an their way to the airport. Karma quickly returned the favor when the man was kind enough to buy the kindred spirits food and gasoline during a refueling stop. Despite their late departure, BJ and Tyler still managed to once again level the racing field by (much to the frustration of Monica Cayce and Joseph Meadows) making it onto the same Australia-bound flight as all the other teams.

After arriving in Perth, all five teams sprinted to taxis and traveled to the War Memorial at Kings Park. Once there, their next route marker instructed them to find the ferry station in Fremantle and take a ferry to Rottnest Island, one of Western Australia's most popular vacation spots. Concerned that they did not have enough money for the 30-45 minute taxi ride to the town of Fremantle, Ray and Yolanda decided to take a bus. Although they had managed to raise over $300 during the plane flight, BJ and Tyler also chose to take the bus. The money-saving decisions immediately turned out to be the right call -- upon arriving at the ferry station, the teams discovered that the next ferry did not leave until 7:30 the next morning. Most of the teams decided to spend the night at a backpacker hotel, with Fran and Barry ending up in a room dubbed "The Pleasure Dome."

The next morning, all five teams boarded the same ferry. Once they arrived on the island, they got on tandem bikes and biked three miles to the lighthouse. After retrieving their next clues, they learned it was time for the Detour: "Sand" or "Sea." "Sand" required the teams to bike to Salmon Bay and complete a local "brushing the beach" beach erosion prevention activity by dragging 40 large tree branches 126 yards across the beach. "Sea" required the teams to go snorkeling and search 50 crayfish traps until each member of the team had retrieved a live crayfish.

Although Monica and Joseph were in second place at the clue box, they fell to fourth place when they got lost on the bike ride to Salmon Bay. Meanwhile "Speedo Boys" Eric Sanchez and Jeremy Ryan managed to survive the "shrivelage" of the cold Australian water and maintain their first place position. Further compounding their problems, Monica and Joseph committed another mistake when they initially only retrieved one crayfish, leading Joseph to declare that they were "the kings of not reading the clues right and stuff."

After completing the Detour, the teams had to travel back to the mainland and visit Fremantle Prison, a 19th century prison with an underground series of tunnels that were used to supply the prison with fresh water. Since they'd been the first team to complete the Detour, Eric and Jeremy were able to sprint and make it onto the first ferry returning to Fremantle. Deciding not to wait for the next ferry to Fremantle, second place BJ and Tyler choose to instead hop on a departing Hillarys Port-bound ferry and then take a taxi to Fremantle Prison -- a move that they were told would be about a half hour quicker than waiting for the next Fremantle ferry.

Since the Hillarys Port ferry was already gone by the time they arrived back at the docks, the three remaining teams ended up waiting for the next Fremantle ferry, but, planning ahead, Fran and Barry had arranged for Rottnest Island Visitor's Center to have a taxi waiting for them once they arrived in Fremantle. Borrowing a cell phone while on the ferry, Joseph and Monica made a call to reserve a taxi of their own. Joseph and Monica's taxi was there once the teams arrived at the ferry station, however Fran and Barry's ended up being a no-show, forcing the couple to scramble for bus transportation (although Ray and Yolanda had not arranged for a taxi, they appeared to somehow luck into finding one.)

Once at the prison, the teams were instructed that it was time to complete the leg's Roadblock and asked "Who's ready for a great escape?" In a blatant example of product placement, the racers had to first search a section of the closed prison for Duracell batteries and a flashlight. After retrieving the Duracell-branded flashlight and inserting the batteries, the racers had to use the flashlights to locate the cavern entrance to underground tunnels. Interestingly, the teams appeared to largely abandon the flashlights once they began searching the dark tunnels for their next clue, preferring to instead use the helmet light provided by prison staffers.

Although Jeremy was well ahead of the other teams at the beginning of the Roadblock, his difficulty finding the door to tunnel entrance allowed the other teams to catch up. BJ and Tyler's Hillarys Port plan also turned out to not be entirely successful, with Joseph and Monica still managing to arrive second at the prison despite their later departure from Rottnest Island.

Once the teams completed the Roadblock, they were instructed to travel a mile and half to the Fremantle Sailing Club, the site of the race's next Pit Stop. Even though Jeremy finished the Roadblock first, Joseph and Monica had kept their taxi waiting outside the prison, creating a "man versus machine" race for first place. However although they had opted to travel by foot, Eric and Jeremy still ended up reaching the Pit Stop mat just ahead of Joseph and Monica, winning (much to Monica's frustration) a trip to Hong Kong. Having barely survived the previous leg, BJ and Tyler were delighted to finish third, while Ray and Yolanda had more "fun" on this leg and finished fourth. While it's unclear how far behind Ray and Yolanda they were, Fran and Barry clearly knew they were the last team to arrive. Once they checked in, Phil broke the news that they had been eliminated from The Amazing Race.

On the next episode of The Amazing Race 9: The teams wade through crocodile-infested waters, and the antagonism between Monica and Joseph and the hippies goes up another level.